Chapter 9
Feared Fox
About Nine Years ago…
A new mother was currently recovering when she noticed the leader of the town standing over her.
"What's wrong?"
The mother asked.
"Your daughter is a two trait faunus."
She responded in a serious tone.
The mother knew what this meant and shook her head.
"N-no,that would mean"
"We're sending her away, a place that will keep her sealed from the world."
"No no there!"
The mother tried to sit up but was still recovering.
"We have no choice, for the good of our people and the world's sake she must never be released again."
As this was happening a hooded bounty hunter held the newborn in his arms.
The child was crying as the bounty hunter ran.
"Silence! Do you think I want to do this?!"
He shouted right before a blast of fear hit him and a huge part of the town before the bounty hunter left.
The child fell asleep and the bounty hunter got in his car and drove away.
As he did, a large amount of grimm began to head towards the town.
"This isn't worth my payment."
He said as he drove.
Several hours later..
The Bounty Hunter walked towards a large gray prison-like building with a gate that simply said nowhere asylum.
A woman in a white suit with gray hair that appeared to be in her sixties waiting.
"Ah I see you've brought her."
The woman said.
"Yes now i'd like my money now"
He handed the child over.
"I believe you'll see it's where it needs to be."
A guard handed the man a case with all he was promised.
"Good."
He turned and started to leave.
"You could always come back ."
The woman said.
The Bounty Hunter's hood fell down to reveal Kiryu but his eyes were both purple.
"No, I worked hard to escape that life."
He got back into his vehicle and drove away.
"Can't blame me for trying."
She looked down.
"Now what to do with you, Circa Blues."
Four Years Later…
The small faunus child dressed in an all white shirt and pants outfit was bouncing a ball against the wall of the building.
There weren't a lot of people in this asylum but the people that were here seemed to avoid her.
She sighed.
"Alone again."
Circa got mad and threw the ball hard against the wall causing it to bounce away from her.
She ran after it and it stopped when it hit a cane held by an old man who appeared to be in his eighties with silver hair wearing all white.
The man struggled to bend down but picked up the ball and rolled it to Circa who stopped to look at the old man.
She picked her ball up and waved at the old man.
The old man did not respond he just sat back down on the bench
Circa looked down and went back to where she was and continued bouncing the ball until a guard shouted at her and everyone else to go inside.
There was a semi huge common area with a few bookshelves and lots of chairs and tables.
Circa was looking at a picture book sitting near the bookshelf when she noticed the old man sitting at a table a bit away,flipping playing cards over.
Out of curiosity she walked to the table and looked at the table and the cards being flipped on top of one another.
"What are you doing?"
She asked while standing on a chair nearby to get a good look at the top of the table.
"Just passing time."
The old man said with a slight chuckle.
"Why don't you read or play a game?"
Circa raised an eyebrow while tilting her head.
"My eyes aren't like they used to be, this is the best I can do."
"Oh."
Circa said sadly,her ears going down a little bit.
"Don't look so glum, this is just the price of age. Our bodies get weaker but we gain knowledge and experience."
Circa looked amazed.
A guard approached the two.
"What's going on here?"
They questioned the two.
"I was curious."
She responded, causing the guard to glare at her a bit.
"Listen you should stay away from him, his mind isn't all there"
The old man took offense to this.
"Just because you and everyone else and this hell house don't believe me doesn't mean I'm crazy."
"I'm afraid that's exactly what it means."
The guard mumbled a bit.
Circa's ear popped up a bit, hearing what the guard said.
She glared at the guard, unaware that she unconsciously activated her semblance.
The guard felt a slight chill and looked down at Circa.
She started breathing heavily before passing out.
The old man looked at Circa then at the guard.
'Hmm could it be?'
He thought to himself as the guard picked up Circa.
"What are you doing?"
The man questioned.
"None of your business but im returning her to her room, she clearly isn't well and needs to rest."
The guard brought Circa into the room marked with her name and dropped her on the bed before leaving.
"I don't get paid enough for this."
They closed the door which engaged the automatic lock.
Each room in this asylum automatically locked when closed but did not close automatically.
The man meanwhile was cleaning up his cards wondering a couple things.
"Is it true?"
He mumbles to himself causing some other patients to look at him with disturbed looks.
Not many people knew this but the main reason this man was here was him spreading around "False" legends that he learned about from traveling across remnant.
Unfortunately due to no one believing him it ended with him being committed to the asylum.
The next day was similar to the day before.
Circa was bouncing her ball against a wall while The Old Man sat on the bench he was sitting in before.
She noticed the man and threw the ball hard enough to get the ball to bounce towards him.
The Old Man picked up the ball and Circa ran towards him.
"Twice in a row feels like too much of a coincidence, little one."
"I wanted to see you."
"And why is that?"
"You know things, I want to know things."
He shook his head.
"Don't you have school lessons you go to?"
"Yeah…but they don't tell me anything outside of here. I want to know what's out there. To know why….im here."
Circa looked down.
The old man could tell she clearly didn't want to be here and wanted to be free.
"They don't like me talking to you but I will try to teach you what I can."
Circa looked up at the man with eyes full of hope.
"Really?"
She asked.
"Yes but only on two conditions. One you listen closely and Two you don't tell anyone about this, the last thing i need is those guards causing either of us problems."
Circa nodded and was clearly excited.
"I promise I won't tell anyone."
"Very well then, we'll begin tomorrow, for now i'd recommend getting your ball."
The old man pushed the ball with his foot away from him and Circa and she chased after it, still happy to learn about the world outside of the Asylum.
Three years had passed since that day and The Old Man taught the now Seven Year old Faunus everything he could about towns, people, lands like deserts, forests, the Grimm and the huntsman and huntresses that fought them.
He also told a few legends and fairy tales to keep her somewhat entertained but kept one hidden until she was ready.
While they tried their best to keep their lessons secret from the guards and other "Patients"
There were some suspicions and rumors that the rambling old man was filling the Faunus Child's head with lies.
Circa didn't say a word about this when the guards questioned her.
She kept calm and said he simply ran into the man a couple times.
For now the guards didn't do anything until one night.
It was beginning to storm.
Circa woke up hearing some stomping outside the doors.
This surprised her since she was sure the rooms were sound proof.
She got up from her bed and noticed the door was cracked open.
"That's weird."
She opened the door and heard some shouting.
Her curiosity got the better of her and she followed the sounds down the hallway and noticed two guards and the woman in white in a room where the old man was sitting on a bed.
"I will not ask again, what have you been teaching her?"
The Old Man just chuckled.
"Nothing, just the truth, the one thing she deserves to know."
Suddenly he was tased by one of the guards.
He groans in pain, holding his chest.
"She's better off not knowing and you know it. I'm afraid we can't let you get away with this."
The woman shook her head.
"I suppose this is on me for giving you too much freedom, only one thing left to do."
She signaled the guards.
"Take him into solitary, he'll remain there as long as it takes, whether he learns his lesson"
The woman glared at the man.
"Or the end of his days."
She said with no mercy in her voice.
"No!"
Circa jumped out of her hiding spot and ran towards the old man.
One of the guards out of instinct put his knee up and pushed her back causing Circa to lean against a wall behind her.
The Woman turned to her and just shook her head.
"Well well well, bet you thought no one noticed your little lessons."
Circa glared at the woman.
"It's better to end this little rebellious phase you developed. Dont worry youll never see him again and you can continue your routine."
Circa's eyes widened and she looked at The Old Man, her teacher and currently her only friend. In pain barely breathing.
Her semblance activated at full force hitting everything in the asylum.
Every patient there started to shake in fear.
The guards and The Woman were shaking as well.
The only thing stopping The Old man from being hit with the same fear everyone else was feeling was the pain she was under.
Those at the asylum were not the only ones affected by Circa though.
In Vale…
A familiar green haired huntsman in training was doing some late night studying when his eyes flashed black for a moment and he looked around.
"What was that?"
Shade didn't realize what he felt but he could tell one thing.
"It feels like fear."
Circa woke up a couple hours later in her room.
The door was closed and locked.
She started hitting the door.
"Let me out!"
Circa shouted.
Suddenly the door began to open, in fact all the auto locked doors began to open.
Not everyone was awake at the time so when she went out into the hallway there was no one else there.
Circa immediately started running.
She saw all the open doors until she reached the room where The Old Man was.
Unfortunately he wasn't there.
"No where is he?"
She asked herself looking around.
Suddenly her ears twitched, she quickly ran into the room and hid under the bed.
One of the guards was standing nearby talking into their scroll.
"Corridor is clear, no grimm in sight."
'Grimm?'
Circa thought to herself.
She heard The Woman speaking on the other side.
"Hurry up and secure the area we need everyone ready to prevent anymore from breaking through our defenses, because of that stupid fox they wont stop coming here."
"Yes Ma'am."
The Guard ran back the way they came and Circa came out of their hiding spot.
'If those Grimm things are here I need to hurry.'
She thought as she ran down the hallway, looking in each room until she finally found the one where The Old Man was lying on a bed barely conscious.
"Hey! Hey, we need to go now!"
Circa said while trying to help him sit up.
The man groaned in pain and fell back down almost immediately.
"Circa"
He struggled to say.
"I'm here,just hang on, we can get out of here."
Circa continued to try to help him with no success.
"No, not me, you."
The Man groaned again.
"No, I can't leave you here, there's grimm inside."
Circa kept trying to help.
"Then my time has come, Circa before this Old Man goes, let me tell you one more legend."
She shook her head.
"Don't be silly, we'll get out of here and we'll see the world you've told me so much about. It'll be great, it'll be great."
She had a few tears in her eyes.
Even for as young as she was she knew what was happening but wanted to believe something different.
"Please just listen one more time."
She wiped her tears and nodded.
"There's a legend that a two trait faunus has the power to bring the world to ruin that was taught by many villages as in the past they brought many grimm that ended up destroying the village. But there's a deeper meaning, someone who's immune to the power of the two trait faunus. The Shadow Manipulator."
Circa looked up a bit.
"The Shadow Manipulator?"
"If these two meet one of two things is said to happen, the world will drown in grimm or"
The Old Man coughed.
"The Grimm will be vanquished by these two."
He lifted his sleeve up to reveal an arm band with a purple gem in the center.
"I trust you will do what's right."
The man took the gem off and handed it to Circa
"This Shadow Gem can find the Shadow Manipulator when they awaken their power."
She took the gem and held it close.
"Now go, leave this place and don't look back."
Circa nodded and started to walk away.
"Tell me one thing before I leave, what's your name?"
She asked without looking at him.
"My name is…"
He coughs more.
"Stitch."
He finally said.
"Thank you Stitch and goodbye."
Circa started running with tears in her eyes.
Stitch smiled as he closed his eyes one last time.
Circa ran as fast as he could and looked out windows as she ran, seeing guards fighting off huge dark creatures with skull-like faces.
"Grimm."
She kept running.
The exit was directly in front of her and as she bursted through the gate she was immediately knocked back hitting the door.
Lightning flashed and she saw the one in charge, the woman who hurt her only friend in front of her.
"You couldn't have just stayed in line could you?"
She asked with venom in her voice.
"You and your stupid powers are ruining this place."
"This place sucked!"
She shouted.
"Silence."
The woman pulled out a pistol.
"I was told to try my best to keep you alive but at this point I don't care. With you gone I can finally get some peace and quiet."
Lightning struck again.
Circa saw a dark figure behind the woman.
She chuckled a bit.
"Yeah I don't think so."
Circa rolled away just before a Beowolf pouncing on The Woman and forcing them back into the Asylum.
Circa started running and when he saw Grimm heading towards the Asylum she hid breathing heavily.
She looked up at the sky and with her eyes full of tears and a small smile on her face she realized one thing.
She was free.
A couple days passed and Circa had arrived at a destroyed village.
As she walked in she looked around and saw a nearby clothing store.
Her current outfit was all dirty and covered in mud from her escape.
Circa walked in and found several clothes that were a little big but would fit her well enough and changed into the outfit she had on under the cloak she had and then put on said cloak.
She continued walking around town and got a weird sense of Deja Vu but continued walking not noticing she passed a mailbox that said Blues.
Wrapping the Shadow Gem into a pendant she began her search for The Shadow Manipulator.
Present Time…
"After a bit the Gem started glowing and I just felt that I could find you."
Circa and Shade were sitting on the roof.
He was listening to her story closely.
"And well you know how the rest of this went at this point."
"Yeah I do."
He nodded at her.
She had a few tears in her eyes.
The story was emotionally draining and Shade could tell it was harder for her to relive it.
"So that's the tragedy of the fox that makes people see fear itself, if you stick with me the grimm will probably ruin your friends' lives just like my ancestors."
She wiped her tears.
"So i think i'll just go, you have enough problems to where you don't need me causing more."
Shade saw her shaking as she spoke.
"I've made it far on my own, you don't need to worry about me anymore."
Circa turned to Shade.
"I'll be fine."
Shade tossed his gauntlets off and pulled her into a hug.
"Wait, what are you?"
"I told you I will be the one to help you and I will."
He let go of her.
"Listen to me when I say this, I promise as long as I draw breath I will protect you, we're a team now and nobody will stop us."
Shade gave Circa a determined look.
She hugs Shade letting her emotions run free.
The Feared Fox found the Shadow Manipulator.
A team that will save or doom the world.
To be continued.
AN:This is one of the longest SHDE Chapters i've worked on, i wanted to not only give my friend's character justice but i wanted to make sure they worked well in the lore of this universe i've worked on. This was also one of the darkest chapters I've worked on as well and I'm hoping it works well. Anyway next time we're getting into another backstory but this time further back. Until then.